


Cosmic Love

by amaronith



Category: Fantastic Four (2015)
Genre: (they are both 16 when they start boning), Angst with a Happy Ending, Ben Grimm's rocky marsupial dick pouch, File Under: Things That Could Be Solved If You Two Idiots Would Just Talk To Each Other, M/M, My First Work in This Fandom, Pining, Tragic Romance, Underage Drinking, Underage Sex, blink and you'll miss it SpideyTorch, so much pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-11-28 21:32:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11426598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amaronith/pseuds/amaronith
Summary: They first got drunk together the night of Junior prom, stealing some of Jimmy's beers from the fridge and hiding out in Ben’s room.It was also the first time they had sex, with Ben's hands around Reed's waist as Reed rode his cock, because apparently Reed was kind of a slut with a few beers in him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I 100% blame Traincat for the fact that this fic even exists. I watched Fant4stic because of her and then I needed to write about how much these two love each other and all the angst tied up in that.
> 
> Thanks to Polaris for beta reading this and fixing my mess of tenses - especially after I made _her_ watch Fant4stic, too.
> 
> any mistakes left in this thing are mine and mine alone.

They first got drunk together the night of Junior prom (which they hadn't even bothered to pretend they were going to), stealing some of Jimmy's beers from the fridge (Jimmy never cared, as long as cash was left to replace what had been taken) and hiding out in Ben’s room (he had moved into the room over the garage, since his mother said if he and Reed were going to blow themselves up, they had best do it away from the damn house at least).  
  
It was also the first time they had sex, with Ben's hands around Reed's waist as Reed rode his cock, because apparently Reed was kind of a slut with a few beers in him.  
  
It had started with Reed’s slow, happy smile, knocking his foot against Ben’s as they sat across the floor from each other. “Best prom date ever.”  
  
Ben snorted dismissively and sipped his beer (his third, but Reed was on his second and already completely sloshed if he was already getting this sappy). “Yeah, okay Stretch.” The nickname had been from when Reed first hit puberty and had shot up like, well, a reed. Tall and lanky and almost delicately slender when compared to Ben--and he still didn't care about stripping down in front of Ben when he changed for bed during their sleepovers, which did not do good things for Ben’s poor heart (or his boner, as Ben’s boner had decided at thirteen that Reed was pretty great and that the idea of leaving handprint bruises on his hips was just the _keenest thing ever by golly_ ).  
  
(Ben never wanted to leave bruises on Reed, because the idea of hurting Reed made him a little sick.)  
  
(But oh how pretty he’d look, fucked out on Ben’s sheets, covered in sweat and come and dark bruises from love bites and moaning Ben’s name in ecstasy-)  
  
“I mean it,” Reed said, pouting a little and, _god_ , that was adorable. “You're just- you’re so _great_ , Ben. Why does no one else appreciate how great you are?”  
  
_Because I’m attracted to my best friend, maybe, so no one else holds any real interest for me?_ Ben snorted again. “Guess you’ll just have to appreciate me more to make up for it, buddy.”  
  
Reed had gotten that determined look on his face, the one he got when people said he should just give up and focus on something more realistic (that Reed should cut off the pieces of himself that make him so brilliant because they didn't understand him and wanted him to fit in some kind of easily labeled box), and nodded. “I _should!_ ” He knocked his sneaker against Ben's again. “You've got nice legs, for starters.”  
  
Ben arched an eyebrow at his friend. “You're completely shitfaced, aren't you?”  
  
“Shut up and let me appreciate you, Ben.” Reed drained his beer and rose up on his knees as he set the empty can aside. “Your legs are nice and strong, from all the heavy lifting you do - usually because you're helping me.” Reed’s smile was soft and sweet and almost dizzying as he crawled forward. “Same with your shoulders - those are great, too. But you know what's really great, Ben?”  
  
“My good looks and charm?” Ben said sarcastically, taking a sip of beer even as Reed sat on Ben's legs.  
  
_Reed might just be a touchy feely drunk, boner, calm down before you ruin everything.  
  
_ Reed blinked at him behind his glasses. “Well, _yeah_ , but more than that - your _heart_. You - you’ve been my friend for so long-”  
  
“Six years, Reed,” Ben said, aiming for sarcastic and falling short into an awkward murmur into his beer can.  
  
“-by my side, every step of the way. You never gave up on me, not once, Ben. You're _fantastic_.” Reed's hand was pressed against Ben's chest, right over his heart, and Ben panicked at the thought that Reed could feel how fast it was beating.  
  
Ben covered Reed’s hand with his own as he set aside his own empty can. “Okay lightweight, I think you’ve had enough.”  
  
Reed was looking at their hands, twisting the hand under Ben’s to press them palm to palm. “Your hands are pretty great, too,” Reed murmured. “Strong, and so amazing, the way things just _want_ to be unmade by you, to be _built_ by you-”  
  
“They're _your_ designs, and you did a lot of building too-” Ben tried to cut him off, feeling his face heat up and wishing Reed would stop moving up Ben’s thighs, or at least stop before he felt Ben’s raging hard on in his jeans.  
  
“ _You_ brought them to life, Ben.” Reed took Ben’s hand and pressed it to his cheek, then down his neck and chest. Ben was too frozen in shock to even think about taking it back from him. “I dream about your hands sometimes. How they’d feel inside me, stretching me open so I can take your cock.”  
  
Reed was fully seated in Ben's lap, now, and there was no way he couldn't feel Ben's cock hard against his ass.  
  
“Reed?” Ben wished his voice sounded stronger, that he could do more than just stare at his friend as Reed pressed Ben’s hand to the front of his jeans, where Ben could feel how hard he was, as Reed's other hand slid up to curve around the back of Ben’s neck.  
  
“C’mon, Ben,” Reed murmured, leaning in close. “ _Unmake me_.”  
  
And then Reed kissed him, and Ben couldn't stop himself from kissing back.  
  
Reed moaned into Ben’s mouth, the kiss sloppy and Reed's glasses digging into Ben’s face, but it was perfect, because it was Reed.  
  
That whole night was perfect.  
  
\--  
  
The morning found them spooned together on Ben's bed, which really should’ve been too small for the both of them except for how Reed was an octopus and always managed to make himself the little spoon anyway.  
  
Ben groaned as sunlight hit his face, burying his face in Reed's hair, even as he tried not to panic as he realized they were still naked, and what the fuck was Reed even gonna _say_ \- he was way more drunk than Ben had been (because Reed was a goddamned lightweight), and Ben was pretty sure his mom had more than a few words about guys who took advantage of drunk girls and none of them were good.  
  
Only Reed wasn't a girl, and _that_ was the bigger part of the problem.  
  
“Ben,” Reed croaked out.  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“Turn off the sun.”  
  
“Not sure that's how it works, buddy,” Ben teased, hoping against hope that if he played this off as completely normal, Reed wouldn't hate him.  
  
“I am going to build a laser and blow up the sun.”  
  
“Yeah, okay. Roll over before you become a supervillain.”  
  
Reed rolled over in Ben’s arms and jammed his face in Ben’s throat with a groan, and Ben tugged up the blanket to cover Reed's face.  
  
“What was in that beer, Ben?”  
  
“Hops, I imagine.”  
  
“ _Ugh_.”  
  
Ben rubbed Reed's back under the blanket, and Reed snuggled closer. “If you puke, I am launching your scrawny ass out of this bed like that potato you sent into the stratosphere in seventh grade.”  
  
“It didn't- it didn't go into the _stratosphere_ , Ben,” Reed stammered out, though he was laughing weakly. “And I don't need to puke, I just need it to be nice and dark and quiet for a while.”  
  
“Want me to shut up?”  
  
“No… I like the sound of your voice.”  
  
Oh. What the hell was Ben supposed to do with that? What was he supposed to do with any of this?! “Oh. I, uh…”  
  
“Hey, Ben?”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“About not having to puke…”  
  
Ben flung the covers off and half-helped-half-shoved Reed out of bed and in the direction of the bathroom.  
  
\--  
  
Except that was it. Reed never _talked_ about what happened. Acting like, as far as he knew, it _wasn't_ completely weird as hell to wake up completely naked and being spooned by your best friend after saying all that shit about him - never mind the sore ass and thighs Reed no doubt had, given how he had ridden Ben like he had stolen him and moaned about how _big_ Ben felt inside him, how _full_ and _complete_ Ben made him.  
  
Ben _had_ caught Reed rubbing at his thighs, and pressing his fingers into his hips in such a way that Ben knew perfectly lined up with his own hands when he thought no one was looking (except Ben _was_ looking, because how could he not), so what the hell did _that_ all mean?  
  
Why would Reed-- _Reed_ , of all people!--say all those things and let Ben fuck his brains out and then just keep on going like it never happened?  
  
(Ben could still hear Reed's voice in his head, the soft little _uh uh uh_ s Reed had let out when Ben had rolled them over and pressed Reed's knees back to his shoulders to fuck into him deeper - Reed had bruises _there_ too, in the shape of Ben’s hands, though they were always hidden because Reed had a vendetta against shorts for some reason--and moaning Ben's name like he had found God when he came.)  
  
Was Reed really _that_ drunk?  
  
So Ben just... let it go, chalking it up to another one of those weird-ass things that made Reed Reed.  
  
Until they got drunk again, on a sweltering night on the last weekend of summer vacation where the sky was pitch black with angry storm clouds and not even the rain coming down in buckets did anything for the heat. Reed had just shown up at the door to Ben’s bedroom, soaked to the skin and with a six-pack of the beer his stepfather liked.  
  
(“Reed?”  
  
“I brought the beer, let's get shitfaced.”  
  
“Ain't your stepfather gonna notice this is gone?”  
  
“No.” And then Reed had cracked a can open and drunk half of it in one long pull, and Ben stopped asking questions.)  
  
And once again, two beers in and Reed was in Ben’s lap, rocking his hips down and kissing Ben hungrily with a soft “c’mon, c’mon, Benjy, fuck me hard, please, I need it-” mumbled into Ben's mouth, and Ben--because he was a sucker for Reed Richards and had been since fifth grade - pressed Reed down against the floor and fucked him hard, the sound of their breathy moans drowned out by the raging storm outside.  
  
The faint light from the junkyard signs painted pale, rain streamed streaks of light over Reed's face and chest as Ben pounded into him, and he was probably the most beautiful thing Ben’d ever seen in his short life, except then Reed was coming, short nails digging into Ben's shoulders as he cried out “ _Ben!_ ” and all he could think was: oh, I love him.  
  
Ben wasn't too far behind Reed, after that, and it was too hot to cuddle but they did it anyway, with Reed as the little spoon and Ben watching him sleep, tracing the shadow paths of the raindrops cast on Reed's skin before he pressed a soft kiss to Reed's shoulder, and settled down to sleep himself.  
  
In the morning they didn't talk about it, but at least Reed didn't puke again.  
  
\--  
  
And it went on like that through senior year--mostly they worked on the teleporter, but some nights Reed would look at Ben and ask “hey, wanna grab a beer?” Or he’d show up with a six-pack in his backpack and a sheepish smile. And every time, he’d have his beers, and crawl into Ben's lap begging for Ben to let him suck his cock so Ben could come on his face (and Reed had looked so blissed out with Ben’s come on his face, licking his lips that were red and swollen from sucking Ben's cock and murmuring “next time I’ll swallow.”), or to be fucked without a condom so Ben could come inside him.  
  
(“Want me to knock you up or something, Reed?” Ben had asked, a little baffled at how turned on he was at the idea.  
  
“Wish you could,” Reed had said with a dreamy, drunken sigh.  
  
“... right. Get over here, then, we’ll get started on that.”)  
  
And every time--every _goddamned time_ , like fucking _clockwork_ \--Reed would wake up the next morning and not _say anything_ about the night before. Even when he had Ben’s jizz dribbling down his thigh, or some of it still caught in his hair, he’d just shower and get dressed and ask Ben if they could hit the McDonald's or something because he was _ravenous_.  
  
Then the science fair happened, and that guy--Dr. Franklin Storm, from the Baxter Institute oooh how _fucking fancy_ \--showed up, and it felt like suddenly there was a countdown ticking away on Ben’s time with Reed. He could feel it; in his gut, in his soul, in the very essence and fabric of his being - the steady ticking down of days, hours, minutes, seconds he had left with Reed before his friend (best friend, _only_ friend, the _love of his goddamned life_ ) left him behind in the dust of his genius.  
  
Ben had always known Reed was going to go places - brain like that, there was no way he couldn’t be--but he had always thought that he’d be along for the ride, at least, hanging onto Reed’s coattails.  
  
Now Reed’s dream-- _their_ dream--was gonna be made with a stranger’s hands.  
  
Ben wanted to puke.  
  
\--  
  
The night before Ben was supposed to help Reed move to Baxter, they had split a six-pack of beer between them--a private celebration, they had called it, because who else would they celebrate it with?--and Reed was stretched out on Ben’s bed, already shirtless and gleaming with sweat.  
  
“Benjy,” Reed crooned, off-key in a way only a drunk could be. “Oh, Benjy… my sweet Benjy…. You’re the one!”  
  
Ben rolled his eyes with a snort. “Really? Dirty Dancing, that’s what you’re going with?”  
  
Reed grinned at him and stretched, his pants and boxers slipping low to show off his hipbones and Ben’s mouth went dry. “Well, how else am I to get you over here?”  
  
“You could _ask_.”  
  
Reed looked over at him. “Please come here?”  
  
“You call that asking?” Ben asked, draining his beer. “Work a little harder, Stretch.”  
  
Reed caught his lower lip in his teeth. “Please, Benjy? I need you.”  
  
Ben got to his feet. “What do you need, Reed?”  
  
“I need you to fuck me.”  
  
“Yeah? That what you want?” Ben dropped his pants and boxers. “Get yourself ready for me.”  
  
Ben watched as Reed stripped down to nothing but skin, reaching into the bedside table for the Vaseline Ben kept there for _this exact purpose_ and then fucking himself with his fingers. “I need it, I need you so bad, Benjy- that big, hard cock inside me, filling me up, it’s so good Ben-!”  
  
Ben grabbed Reed’s wrist, gently tugging his fingers out of himself before knocking Reed over onto his back and kissing him.  
  
Reed sighed and moaned into it, arms wrapping around Ben’s shoulders as Ben pressed into him slowly.  
  
It felt like they were at it for hours; lazy, syrup-sweet kisses as Ben fucked Reed deep and slow--so slow, because this was the last time they’d do this, Ben knew, because once again, in the morning, Reed wouldn’t say anything about this, and Ben was too much of a coward to say something first.  
  
Ben swallowed the noise Reed made when he came with a kiss, and didn’t let himself think about how it sounded like the start of ‘I love you’, because Reed wouldn’t own up to it in the morning, anyway.  
  
\--  
  
“You belong here,” Ben had told him, had given him his Swiss Army Knife as one small thing to remember him by. “You’re home, buddy.”  
  
By the time Ben had walked out of that giant ass building with its fancy ass lab coats and friend-stealing scholarships, Reed was already out of his reach, out of his life, and Reed wasn’t ever going to look back to see Ben still standing there waiting for him, because home for Ben had been Reed Richards, and now he didn’t have that, anymore.  
  
He tried drinking beer that night, alone in his room, and promptly threw it back up.  
  
_Welcome to the rest of your life, Benjamin Grimm. What the hell are you even gonna do with it without him in it?  
  
_ \--  
  
The baffling thing was that Reed didn’t let him go, and Ben wasn’t sure what to do with any of it.  
  
‘I’ve died and gone to Valhalla, only with less fighting and more Science,’ Reed texted him on his first day.  
  
'yeah?’ Ben texted back as he rubbed a towel over his hair.  
  
(His mother had watched him as he came in. “I’ve never seen you work so hard.”  
  
“Yeah, well, it needs doin’, don't it?”  
  
“I know you and Reed have been attached at the hip since elementary school, sweetie, but he's only a train ride away if you miss him-”  
  
“Ma, I really need you to not, okay? Please?”  
  
“My _God_ , Benjamin, _enough_ with the _moping_ ! He’s only been gone a few hours - you’re acting like you broke up with your girlfriend-” At Ben’s flinch, his mother gasped, her towel clutched in front of her mouth and her eyes wide. “Oh _Benjy_ …”  
  
“Sorry, Ma.” Ben got to his feet. “I’m just gonna shower and go to bed, okay?”  
  
He hadn't waited for an answer before walking out.)  
  
'yes! So. Many. Books. And Sue - you remember Sue, right? Dr. Storm’s daughter? - anyway, Sue told me about this music group called Portishead and I really like them! I’ll play some for you when you next time I see you.’  
  
_Right. So never, then.  
  
_ Ben scowled at his phone and tossed it onto his night table as he collapsed into bed and fell asleep.  
  
-  
  
'i met the other project head today,’ Reed texted him again, a few days later. 'guy named Victor Von Doom. he’s brilliant, but kind of a douchebag. And I think he might be an ecoterrorist.’  
  
'?’ Ben texted back with one hand as he devoured his lo mein.  
  
'he just has a lot of opinions on how everyone should die because they're killing the planet.’  
  
‘...so he's in AVALANCHE?’  
  
‘XD! i get the distinct feeling he will come at me with a welding torch if I ask him what his plans for Mako Reactor Seven are.’  
  
-  
  
'did you know Dr. Storm had a son, too?’  
  
'why would I know that reed?’  
  
'his name is Johnny and he's a street racer. He’s helping with the project now and he and Victor don't really get along. Like at all at all.’  
  
'because this Johnny guy has taste, apparently.’  
  
'ha! I have been having Johnny help me to keep someone from being bludgeoned to death with a cast.’  
  
'a cast?’  
  
'johnny came in with a broken arm and just started welding like nbd, wtf ben it was beautiful.’  
  
Of course it was. Why wouldn't it be? Ben wasn't even smart enough to be there to help build the damn machine, but Johnny Storm could weld with one arm in a cast and have it be perfect. Of course.  
  
Ben covered his eyes with his arm and tried to will the bile rising in his throat back down.  
  
-  
  
Reed sent him a picture, himself with a dorky thumbs up in front of a scale model of the machine (Ben assumed), with the message 'Couldn’t have done it without you, buddy!’ under it.  
  
Ben was happy for him. He _was_.  
  
_I miss you_ , Ben typed, later. _Wish I was there. I love you and I can't move on, please Reed, what the hell are we even doing anymore?  
  
_ He deleted the message and rolled over to go to sleep.  
  
\--  
  
His phone buzzed on his nightstand and Ben groaned before he answered it without looking. “Hello?”  
  
“I’m not going without you.”  
  
_Reed?_ “What time is it?”  
  
“Look, we started this thing together, we’re going together. I’m not taking no for an answer, okay? Forget Neil Armstrong! Come on.”  
  
“Neil Armstrong?” Ben rolled over to sit up better as the familiar tone in Reed’s voice seeped in through sleep-fogged memory. _Please, Benjy, I need it, I need you so bad, Benjy…_ “You drunk?”  
  
“Yeah I am a little drunk,” Reed said, belligerent. “Doesn't matter!”  
  
_Doesn't it?_ Ben doesn't say. _Because I know what you're like when you're drunk.  
  
_ “Look, the machine works. The machine works, Ben, and I need you to come with me.”  
  
Ben took a deep, slow breath. The teleporter. Reed's dream-- _their_ dream. And it _worked_. “Now?”  
  
“Yeah. Look, Ben, I need you to come because we're going tonight. I told the guys that I’m not going without you,” Reed continued, and Ben grit his teeth. “Okay? Who's gonna have my back?”  
  
_Did you fuck them?_ Ben didn't ask. _This Victor and Johnny and Sue you can't shut up about? Did you get sweet and slutty for them the same way you did for me?  
  
_ It felt almost too mean to ask, and Ben wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.  
  
“All right, fine. Just- just give me a second, all right?”  
  
“Okay.”  
  
“Please?” Ben pleaded, because he couldn't be left behind again, and maybe this was his chance to be with Reed again, if only to see the end result of their hard work.  
  
Maybe then he could move on. Maybe all this feelings nonsense was tied up with the completion of the teleporter, and now that it was finished and Ben could see that it worked with his own eyes, he could move on.  
  
Maybe when pigs flew.  
  
“All right, buddy.”  
  
“Thank you.” Ben hung up and slumped back against his pillows.  
  
_Fuck_.  
  
\--  
  
Reed was beaming drunkenly at him through the glass doors and making goofy faces, and Ben just barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes at his friend.  
  
“He’s with me,” Reed told the door guard uselessly, and Ben bit back “am I?” because Reed was pulling him into a hug, bright and happy, and he smelled like booze but not sex.  
  
Reed couldn't stop touching him as they walked down the hall, and Ben still felt a jittery, anxious energy in the air. All he wanted was to reach out and pull Reed into a kiss, to fuck away that nervous energy and suck a dark hickey onto Reed's skin about his collar so everyone in this damn building would know Reed was his, even Reed his damn self.  
  
“Why’re we doing this tonight, Reed?”  
  
Reed barely glances at him. “Huh?”  
  
“Why are we doing this tonight?”  
  
Reed turned and finally - _finally_ \- looked at Ben with a grin. “You trust me, right?”  
  
_Always_ , Ben didn't say.  
  
He’d gotten pretty good at keeping his mouth shut around Reed.  
  
\--  
  
It was dark, and he was alone.  
  
_Where is Reed?  
  
_ People were staring at him through a glass pane, and he was strapped down like some kind of wild animal.  
  
_Where are you, Reed?  
  
__Reed, save me!  
  
__Someone help me!  
  
__Reed… don't go...  
  
_ \--  
  
Reed was gone, and Ben was alone.  
  
\--  
  
Reed _left him.  
  
_ \--  
  
Reed was never, _ever_ , going to come back.  
  
\--  
  
Ben was _alone_.  
  
\--  
  
The other two who had gotten abilities were Sue and Johnny Storm. Apparently their father, The Great Dr. Franklin Storm, basically sold them all to the government for the chance to keep working on the teleporter. “To find a cure for you,” he had said.  
  
_So the military can make more like us_ , Ben didn't say.  
  
It wasn't that hard not to. He didn't talk too much these days, anyway.  
  
\--  
  
Dr. Allen was a complete greaseball of a man who always acted like Ben was simultaneously his best friend and a wild animal you couldn't turn your back on.  
  
It was gratifying to send the little pissant running with a good loom and a growl when he got too friendly, and he was always the one to bring the orders from the military--which Ben didn't let himself think too hard about, because those missions let him bleed out a little of that rage he felt.  
  
It wasn't like he wasn't already having nightmares, anyway.  
  
(He remembered the first time, Dr. Allen had come to just him. But the second time, he had approached the three of them “and how do you two feel about going into the field?”  
  
Sue had shot Ben this look, completely wide-eyed and panicked like she was begging him to help her stop this, and it took him a second to realize it wasn't about stopping it for herself.  
  
She was trying to protect Johnny.  
  
“They ain't ready for the field,” Ben rumbled over whatever Johnny was starting to say. “Suzy-Q and the firefly here are just gonna get killed if you send them out now.”  
  
“Hey!” Johnny yelled, and didn't back away when Ben turned to face him. “What the hell, man?! Sue and I are doing great-”  
  
“You get that take off time down, then we'll talk, matchstick. Until then, keep training.” He turned back to fix Allen with a glare. “All the upcoming missions are mine until further notice.”  
  
“That’s not actually how this works, Mr. Grimm-”  
  
Ben punched a hole in the wall. “It is now.”  
  
“Err, right. Of course. Let me tell you about this one, then...”  
  
Ben ignored the grateful look Sue gave him as he walked out.)  
  
Dr. Allen came in with a smile and stood next to Ben’s bed. “Hi, Ben. We have another project for you. I think you’re gonna like this one.”  
  
\--  
  
Reed. Ben’s next mission was _Reed_.  
  
They had found him.  
  
Ben wanted to be sick.  
  
\--  
  
He hadn't ever wanted to see Reed again.  
  
(Yes he did.)  
  
Reed betrayed him.  
  
(Reed had promised Ben he’d be back. He had _promised_.)  
  
This was all Reed's fault.  
  
( _Reed… I never wanted to bring you back here. Who knows what they’ll make you do when you're back here_.)  
  
Ben got on the plane.  
  
\--  
  
It had been fairly easy to take down Reed and get him into the box.  
  
(He hadn't fought back against Ben, of course it had been easy.)  
  
He hadn't looked in the shack that Reed apparently was living in, but he caught sight of the photo of them from when they were kids sticking out of one of the confiscated boxes of research, and it just made him angrier.  
  
Reed turned him into some kind of _monster_ and _abandoned him_ , and Reed has been here, pretending like they were still friends, as though Reed still _gave a shit?!  
  
_ Ben squeezed his eyes shut as best he could before he climbed back into the plane, and ignored the soft grinding of rock against rock his body made as he sat down.  
  
\--  
  
“Does it hurt?”  
  
“...I’m used to it.”  
  
“I’m sorry.”  
  
“That's what you said when you left.”  
  
-  
  
“I promise you--I am going to fix this.”  
  
“I stopped believing in your bullshit a long time ago.”  
  
“You were my best friend.”  
  
“Look at me. _I’m not your friend_.”  
  
\--  
  
Ben left Reed in the interrogation room, and almost walked right over Sue as she hid in the hallway.  
  
“I’m sorry. I didn’t have a choice, Ben,” she said quietly as she came into view. “Reed’s the only one who can complete the gate--I didn’t _work_ on that part of the project.”  
  
Ben watched her jaw clench. She didn’t want Reed here, either.  
  
“Sue,” he said, voice soft. “What, exactly, are you apologizing to me for?”  
  
“You… Reed talked about you a lot, you know? When we took breaks, he’d talk about his best friend Ben. And then the accident-”  
  
“It wasn’t an accident,” Ben snapped before he could stop himself. Calling it an accident meant no one was at fault. “Sue. I don’t care that you were the one to find Reed, okay? He’s here now, he’ll complete the gate, and then what?”  
  
“Then--then we find a cure--”  
  
“Suz, you don’t really think they’re gonna let me get cured, do you?” She flinched, and Ben continued. “There is no cure for me, even if you find it.”  
  
Sue clenched her jaw and squared her shoulders as she glared up at him. “I’d like to see them try and stop me.”  
  
Ben held her gaze for only a second before he looked away and stepped around her. “I’m going back to my cell.”  
  
“It’s-- it’s not a _cell_ , Ben--”  
  
“I’m just callin’ ‘em as I sees ‘em, Suz. Good luck convincing Reed to help you.”  
  
—  
  
It had taken Reed seven minutes to fix the gate, Ben would find out later, and that his first words when he saw the new one were “You made it ugly.”  
  
Because _aesthetics_ mattered when you were building a portal to another dimension, right?  
  
And on the other side of it, they found Victor.  
  
And, of course, Victor killed everybody.  
  
_Dr. Storm didn’t deserve to go out like that_ , Ben thought, later. He and Franklin Storm very often butted heads when they did interact, because Franklin Storm had no idea what to do with someone who wasn’t some kind of super genius, apparently, and kept trying to call Ben ‘son’.

  
( _This is your fault!_ Ben had wanted to scream at him. _You stole him from me with everything I could never give him and now look at me!  
  
_ He never did, though.)  
  
He hadn’t even thought about it before he was following Reed’s lead, same as always, and taking out Victor before he could destroy the planet.  
  
Reed calling them a team, and holding Ben’s gaze when he said it.  
  
_We’re not okay_ , Ben wanted to tell him. _We’re never going to be okay again_.  
  
It was a lie, though, and Ben knew it.  
  
Because he was a sucker for Reed Richards, and had been since he was ten years old.  
  
—  
  
Reed got them Central City, and wanted to call the team The Fantastic Four, and it was so cheesy Ben wanted to gag a little at how it made him feel so warm and fuzzy.  
  
“Ben,” Reed called after him one night--they had all split off to go to bed, supposedly, and he and Reed were alone in the hall.  
  
And Ben had been doing so well, avoiding being alone with him, too.  
  
Ben took a deep breath. _Might as well get it over with_. “Yeah?”  
  
“I. Can we-- _Ben_ ,” Reed let out a weak laugh, though it sounded a bit too choked to really be considered one. “I’ve gone over this conversation a thousand times in my head and now I don’t know what to say.”  
  
Ben looked at Reed, standing there with his hands fisted at his sides and his head bowed, and felt something in him shift. “…Sephiroth.”  
  
Reed’s head lifted as he blinked, baffled. “What?”  
  
“I was wrong about Victor, before. He was more Sephiroth than he was AVALANCHE.”  
  
Ben turned and continued back toward his room as Reed laughed, shocked and delighted and standing in the hallway like an idiot.  
  
Maybe they could be okay after all.


	2. Chapter 2

Reed touched him more now. Once that initial barrier had been broken, and Ben let Reed in again, Reed was almost always in Ben’s space: pressed shoulder to shoulder (or shoulder to arm, because Ben was taller than him now), an arm stretched around Ben’s back, or a hand around his wrist.  
  
Johnny watched them, head tilted curiously.  
  
(Johnny had jogged up to him, after they first came to Central City, and leaned against the wall. “Hey, big guy.”  
  
“Hey, Matchstick.”  
  
“...I wanted--I’m sorry, okay? About… about calling you that.”  
  
_The Thing Nobody Wanted_.  
  
“Johnny, it’s fine--”  
  
“It’s not.” Johnny looked away from him. “My Dad--my Dad died thinking I hated him. And I know you always took on those projects with the military to keep Sue and me out of them as best you could. You didn’t have to--you didn’t know us, you had no reason to want to keep us safe. You did all that and… and I was out of line.”  
  
Ben looked up at the ceiling. “I know you didn’t mean it that way, Johnny. And… you’re wrong. I did know you--at least a little. Reed was always texting me about you guys--you, Suzy, Victor. So…”  
  
Johnny looked back at him. “I’m glad you’re with us, man.”  
  
“...yeah. Me too.”)  
  
“What?”  
  
“I'm trying to figure if he's just making up for lost time or trying to tell you something.”  
  
Ben lifted a rocky brow at him. “Trying to tell me something?”  
  
Johnny lit up his hands, tossing a fireball back and forth between them--a nervous habit he developed during the time he was learning how to control his abilities. “He isn't like that with Sue and me. I mean, you know how plants will grow in the direction of the sun? Like, sunflowers will lean towards it? It's like that. You walk in a room and Reed leans towards you.”  
  
Ben wanted to hunch his shoulders. “What are you getting at?”  
  
“Reed has a thing for you, and Sue and I have no idea what it is.”  
  
“It's not your business, is what it is.”  
  
“It's a small community, gossip is gossip is everyone's business.”  
  
Ben clenched his fists. “Listen, Zippo--it's between Reed and me, okay?”  
  
“I’m just worried about you, man. You're… you’re angry. Really, _really_ angry. And Reed--Sue says it's guilt. So if something happens, it’ll affect the team dynamic, you get me?”  
  
“Suz put you up to this?”  
  
“She seems to think you'd react better to it coming from me.”  
  
Ben rubbed the back of his head. “Listen, Firefly--I get that you're worried, but let Reed and me work this shit out ourselves, okay?”  
  
“...are you in love with Reed?”  
  
Ben stared at Johnny, eyes narrowing. “Why do you care what the answer to that is?”  
  
“There's… a guy. That I like. He’s in the city.”  
  
Ben’s eyebrows shot up. _Ah._ _This wasn't about me and Reed at all. At least, not really._  “You’ve been going into Manhattan?”  
  
Johnny indicated his uniform--they had made him a new sleeveless one that looked more like workout clothes than 'escapee from a lab’. “People think I’m a hardcore jogger or something. Don't tell Sue?”  
  
“My lips are sealed. So you found a guy you like?”  
  
Johnny nodded. “I mean, he’s… he’s really cool. I met him on a rooftop.”  
  
“Johnny--”  
  
“And he helps people and he's smart and funny and I don't--” Johnny flamed off his hands and ran them over his hair. “Sue doesn't know.”  
  
“What, that you sneak into the city?”  
  
Johnny shot him an annoyed look. “That I like guys, too. I don't know what to tell her, but if you and Reed are a thing--”  
  
Ben rested his hands on Johnny's shoulders. “Matchstick. If you want backup when you come out to your sister, you’ve got it no matter what.”  
  
Johnny slumped, relieved. “Thanks, Ben.”  
  
“Also, seriously, Johnny? Spider-Man?”  
  
Johnny bristled. “Who said Spider-Man?! I didn't say Spider-Man, you are jumping to conclusions--”  
  
“You met this guy on a rooftop and he helps people, and you’ve been watching YouTube videos of the guy when you think no one can see you--you think I’m stupid? Of course it’d be Spider-Man.”  
  
“Whatever, man, just keep it under your rocks, okay?”  
  
Ben nodded. “...in exchange, do something for me?”  
  
“Okay… what?”  
  
“I need you to get me a six-pack of beer. I’d get it myself, but…”  
  
Johnny held up his hands. “Say no more, say no more. I got you--any particular brand, or…?”  
  
“PBR.” Johnny wrinkled his nose in distaste. “Yeah, yeah, I know, but it was cheap and the guy at the liquor store didn’t card you for cheap shit.”  
  
Johnny pressed a hand to his chest in mock-shock. “Are you telling me that _you_ \--best friend of the most straight-laced nerd I know--engaged in _under-aged drinking?_ ”  
  
“All the fucking time. Johnny, we lived on _Long Island_ and spent ninety-nine percent of our free time working on that damn teleporter before your dad gave Reed that scholarship.”  
  
“And the other one percent of the time?”  
  
_We got drunk and fucked._ “We drank.”  
  
Johnny shook his head, laughing. “That lying shithead. You know what he said to Victor that night, before the three of us got completely shitfaced on whatever was in Vic’s flask? ‘Ethanol kills braincells.’”  
  
Ben wasn’t sure how to feel about that. “Yeah, well. Two beers and Reed’s completely sloshed, so.”  
  
“Well, one six-pack coming up--I’ll let you know when I have it, okay?”  
  
“Thanks, Zippo.”  
  
“...okay, I gotta ask--why Zippo?”  
  
“Because you're a classy jackass, Johnny, why the fuck else? You don't refill a Bic lighter when it’s empty, you toss it like the garbage it is. But a Zippo? You keep that and you refill it, over and over.”  
  
Johnny blinked at him. “That is probably the weirdest self-esteem boost I have ever received in my life, man. And makes me sound like kinda a slut.”  
  
Ben clapped a hand over his eyes with a groan. “Just get me my fucking beer, Johnny, would ya?”  
  
Johnny laughed and jogged off, and Ben sighed.  
  
Now he just had to wait.  
  
\--  
  
Johnny got him his beer a few days later. “Sue is mad at you for asking for garbage booze.”  
  
Ben frowned. “That's why she's mad?”  
  
“She's mad that you asked for booze at all, but she's downright _insulted_ that it is cheap trash booze--her words, not mine.”  
  
Ben took the bag from Johnny. “Yeah, well, tell her for her birthday we’ll see if we can get her some of that vodka that's filtered through diamonds. That should be classy enough for a lady like her.”  
  
Johnny snorted. “We'll have a party. See you, man. Good luck hashing shit out with Reed.”  
  
“...yeah.”  
  
Ben checked the bag once Johnny left and sighed.  
  
It was time.  
  
\--  
  
Reed was in his corner of the lab--calling the space a “corner” didn't really do it justice, what with its sprawling machinery and floor to ceiling whiteboard scribbled with equations--humming along to a song playing on his headphones.  
  
“Hey, Reed.”  
  
Reed twisted around and jerked his headphones out of his ears (which stretched a little before snapping back into place). “Ben! Hi! I --what's up?”  
  
Ben held up the bag of beer. “You wanna have a beer later? We… should probably talk.”  
  
Reed peered into the bag. “Oh wow, you found some PBR?”  
  
“I asked someone a favor. I’ll be in my room, so come find me there when you're ready. We all know what happens when you get drunk in a lab.”  
  
Reed flinched, but he set his marker aside and righted himself back into his normal shape. “Let's go, then.”  
  
Ben stared at him. “You don't want to finish?”  
  
“It'll be there. This… you’re more important.”  
  
Ben was glad he didn't blush visibly anymore as he walked out with Reed at his side. “...right.”  
  
They walked the rest of the way in silence, Reed opening his mouth to say something, but then closing it again without a sound.  
  
Ben set the bag down on the side table as he settled down on the comfortable recliner that the scientists had reinforced to bear his weight, and Reed sat on the sofa (similarly reinforced) across from him.  
  
Reed opened two of the beers and passed one to Ben. They drank in silence for a while before Reed finally spoke up. “I… Where do we start?”  
  
“... I dunno, Reed. Do we start with the part where you turned me into a giant rock monster and then abandoned me to the military, or do we go back further with all the shit you did to mess with my head before that?”  
  
Reed jerked back like he had been slapped. “Excuse me?”  
  
“Oh, don't tell me you _don't remember_ ,” Ben snarled, slamming down his beer can. “You’d ask if I wanted a beer, drink two, and then we’d fuck. And then you’d wake up in the morning like _nothing happened_. I spent all of senior year with no idea where I stood with you!”  
  
Reed stared down into his beer can. “I never… Ben, you have to believe me when I tell you that I didn't want to hurt you. I just… if we only had sex when we were drunk, it didn't impact our friendship. If I misstepped, well, we were just drunk, no big deal. Ideally, it was supposed to carry over to when we were sober. I… was hoping you'd say something, but you never did, so I figured you only wanted me when you were drunk, and decided to take what I could get.”  
  
Ben stared at him. “Why didn't you say something first?”  
  
“Because _what if you said no_?” Reed looked up to meet his eyes, pleading. “I couldn't lose you, Ben. I loved-- _love_ \--you too much.”  
  
“...Reed…”  
  
“And--and you never said anything either! This isn't all on me, Ben! Why didn't _you_ say anything?”  
  
Ben swallowed hard. “Because what if you said no,” he echoed softly. “I… I was so in love with you, Reed. You were the center of my universe.”  
  
“Was?” Reed closed his eyes, looking pained. “Were?”  
  
“I can't do much about it now, can I?!” Ben slammed his fist into the arm of his chair as his other hand crushed his empty beer can and he threw it across the room. “Look at me, Reed! I can't hold you like this! I can't take you on dates - I can't even be seen in _public_!”  
  
“Ben-”  
  
He had to look away from Reed, then, “I can't even kiss you, Reed.”  
  
Reed drained his beer and got to his feet, stepping over the coffee table to take Ben’s face in his hands. “Ben. If you still love me--if you even want this--I promise you we will find a way to make it work, okay? So… do you?”  
  
“Do I still love you? Reed…” Ben lifted his hand to gently brush the backs of his fingers against Reed's cheek. “I never stopped. You’ve been it for me for… a while.”  
  
Reed rubbed his cheek against Ben's hand. “Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure I fell in love with you the night you helped me steal a power converter from your family's junkyard, so we're even.”  
  
God, they were idiots, weren’t they? “...Reed? There's something I need to know.”  
  
Reed climbed into Ben's lap, straddling him easily to press their foreheads together. “Hm?”  
  
“...when we’d get drunk together before… is that how you always are when you're drunk?”  
  
“What?”  
  
Ben gave him at flat look, even though Reed couldn't see him. “You got kinda slutty for me, Reed.”  
  
“Oh! _That_. No, that's just you.” Reed pulled back and grinned at him. “You just bring it out in drunk me. When I get drunk it's like… most people, they have this filter, right? This 'this is a bad idea, so I shouldn't do it’ kind of filter? Drunk me doesn't have that filter.”  
  
Ben snorted. “Sober you doesn't, either.”  
  
Reed rolled his eyes. “Drunk me has less of one. And it's like, where sober me would normally be like 'I really should not be telling Ben how I peeked at him in the locker room when we changed for gym,’ _drunk_ me is all 'not only am I gonna tell Ben I peeked when we changed for gym class, I’m gonna tell him the first time I  fingered myself open was after I peeked at him one time and caught sight of his dick.’”  
  
Ben made a mental note to think about that later. “So you never had sex with the others?”  
  
Reed stared at him, blinking. “....wait. Is that what you thought? This whole time?”  
  
“You called me up drunk! I figured-”  
  
“Oh _my God_ , Ben!” Reed laughed. “I mean, Sue’s beautiful, but I’m pretty sure if I asked her how she felt about threesomes, she’d remove my brain through my nose with a grapefruit spoon.”  
  
_Wait, what?_ “Threesomes?”  
  
Reed blushed. “Yeah, well. I don’t want to have sex with other people without you there. Same if we’re talking about sleeping with Johnny. And Victor was… Victor was Victor, and he was handsome, and I liked working with him, but neither of those things were enough to make me want to sleep with him.”   
  
“You thought about sleeping with Johnny?” Ben wasn’t sure how he felt about that, but that was more because Johnny was Sue’s brother, and if Sue was gonna go after Reed for asking about threesomes with _her_ , she would _definitely_ go after Reed for asking Johnny about them.  
  
Reed rolled his eyes. “Ben, I am pretty sure you gave me a mechanic kink and every time I thought about it, I thought about him being spit roasted between the two of us, so…” Reed shrugged. “Thinking other people are attractive is a normal thing, even for people in relationships.”  
  
“We weren’t in one, before, though,” Ben pointed out. “There was nothing stopping you from asking Sue out. Or Johnny.”  
  
“Aside from their father being my sponsor and that it would’ve been grossly unprofessional? See the whole thing with Sue and the grapefruit spoon and my brain.”  
  
Ben sighed, looking up at the ceiling. “...we’re really doing this, huh? You and me?”  
  
“I’d like to. I really love you, Ben. And… And I know I messed up, with leaving. But I swear, Ben, I was looking for a way to save you.”  
  
Ben met Reed’s pleading gaze. “...I know.”  
  
Reed kissed him, pressing his soft lips against Ben’s hard ones. “Ben…”  
  
“I don't have anything,” Ben mumbled against Reed's mouth, his hands going automatically to Reed’s hips the way they always had before. “You know. For sex. I don't even know if I can _have_ sex.”  
  
He wanted to, though. _God_ , he wanted to-- to feel human again, if nothing else.  
  
“Did you lose your dick?” Reed asked, very seriously. “Because, you don't wear pants--why did they not give you pants? --but I've seen you eat, and you’ve mentioned using the bathroom before, so I was curious, but I couldn't ask and I have your medical file but I felt weird reading it without your permission and--”  
  
Ben pressed a finger to Reed's mouth. “Shush. Yes, I still have a dick. But it's… well.”  
  
Reed looked down curiously, feeling along Ben’s stomach. “...well?”  
  
“There's this… hidden pouch thing I’ve got now. You can feel the entrance to it, sorta. The rocks get finer - smoother.” Ben gasped as Reed's fingers found what he was talking about and slipped further in. The rocks did become smoother, more like pebbles and fitting together like snake scales and the whole thing was far more sensitive than the rest of him. “Ah--!”  
  
“Oh… how _fascinating_.” Reed practically purred the word out as he tugged Ben’s cock out into the open and stroked it curiously. “This… hm…”  
  
“For fuck’s sake, Reed, it's not a damn _kitten!_ ”  
  
Reed looked up at Ben from under his lashes. “Are you sure you don't have anything? Chapstick? Vaseline? Olive oil?”  
  
Bed rolled his eyes and pressed his forehead to Reed's as tenderly as he could. “Why would I have _olive oil_ , Reed?”  
  
“Sometimes you just really need an antipasto spread and olive oil is important to that?”  
  
Ben laughed, wrapping his arms around Reed carefully. “Babe, I love you, but I don't have anything we can use as lube, and I'm not letting you use spit.”  
  
Reed flushed prettily even as he scrambled back off Ben’s lap. “If you give me five, no, _three_ minutes--I’ll be right back, I promise, just stay in that chair--!”  
  
Ben leaned back, feeling a little awkward as he tried to look casual with his cock jutting up from its pouch the way it was, just starting to leak with precome. “I’ll be here.”  
  
Reed stretched to kiss him before snapping back as he ran out of the room and down the hall.  
  
Ben covered his eyes with his hand and let out a half-groan, half-laugh. “Benjy, what the hell are you even _doing?_ ” he asked himself.  
  
Reed ran back in two and a half minutes later, half tripping over his feet as he skidded to a stop and slammed Ben’s door shut. He carefully climbed into Ben’s lap as he kissed Ben once, twice, three times. “Hi, sorry I took so long--I had to avoid Sue.”  
  
Ben chuckled. “Sue?”  
  
“I’m pretty sure she knew what I was up to. There was a lot of disapproving frowns.”  
  
“And yet you lived to bring back…?”  
  
“Oh!” Reed fumbled with one of his pockets as he pressed kisses to Ben’s jaw and pulled out a tub of Vaseline. “Ta-da! The sex is saved.”  
  
Ben snorted and kissed Reed softly, as best he could with rock-rough lips. “Gonna get yourself ready for me, sweetheart?”  
  
Reed flushed, pupils blown wide as he stared at Ben for a moment, half out of his uniform. “ _Oh_ …”  
  
“Reed?”  
  
Reed stood up and stripped himself out of the rest his uniform, chewing on his lower lip. “...say it again?”  
  
“Sweetheart?”  
  
Reed's blush went all the way from the roots of his hair to the middle of his chest. “Will you keep calling me that?”  
  
_As long as you’ll let me._ “Anything you want, sweetheart.”  
  
Reed slicked his fingers with the vaseline as he climbed into Ben’s lap and hid his face in Ben’s neck as he worked himself open. “ _Ah--!_ ”  
  
“There we go… just like that, sweetheart,” Ben rumbled, his hands going to Reed's hips.  
  
Suddenly Reed reached down and _tugged_ , opening up the recliner so that Ben was leaning back a bit more and then he was sinking himself down on Ben's cock with a shout. “ _Ben!_ ”  
  
Ben moaned and struggled not to thrust up into Reed, catching sight of the tears gathered on the corners of Reed's eyes. “Reed, stop if it hurts you--”  
  
“It's not, it's not, I swear it's not,” Reed whimpered. “I just-- _Ben…_ ” Reed's head dropped back as he trembled and shook around Ben’s cock, and sounded for all the world like he was crying.  
  
Ben reached up to cradle Reed's cheek in his palm. “Sweetheart, look at me.”  
  
Reed's head dropped forward and he opened his eyes. “I thought I’d never have this again,” he whispered, voice thick with tears. “I thought, even if you agreed to be my friend again, that we’d never be like _this_. And now we are and, I just--I love you _so much_ , Ben!”  
  
Ben gently wiped away Reed’s tear tracks with his thumb. “I love you, too, Reed.”  
  
Reed caught his lower lip between his teeth, riding Ben’s cock with a muffled whine. “ _Benjy_ … you feel so _good_ ,” he moaned as he moved, both hands planted on Ben’s chest for balance.  
  
Ben watched him, drinking in the sight that he never thought he’d see again, either.  
  
_And yet, after everything, here we are.  
  
_ Ben placed a rocky hand on Reed's thigh. “Touch yourself for me, sweetheart. I wanna watch you.”  
  
“Ben…” Reed wrapped a hand around himself, jerking up into his hand as he fucked himself on Ben's cock, and just like Ben thought, it didn't take long for Reed to come after that, moaning so loud that Ben was _sure_ that anyone passing by outside could hear him.  
  
Ben came with a soft murmur of “ _Reed_ …”  
  
Reed slumped over, practically purring with contentment, tucking his face into Ben’s neck - or, at least, what there was it. “Mmm…”  
  
Ben rested a hand on Reed’s back. “…not to ruin the afterglow, sweetheart, but we should probably move.”  
  
“Hm?”  
  
The recliner tipped backwards, and Ben didn’t even flinch as his head hit the floor. “….because that.”  
  
Reed blinked down at Ben before bursting into giggles, pressing their foreheads together with a laugh. “Whoops?”  
  
“You’re lucky I love you,” Ben muttered as Reed sat back and pushed the entire chair back upright.  
  
“I know,” Reed chirped happily, lifting himself up off Ben’s cock with a gasp. “ _Oh_ …”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Just… shower?” Reed indicated the mess he had made on Ben’s chest. “I need to scrub you down.” Reed tilted his head from side to side. “…I should’ve given you hickies when I had the chance.”  
  
Ben stared at him, as his come dripping down Reed’s thighs. “Huh?”  
  
“I just think this whole thing could’ve gone better, emotionally speaking, if I just bit my name across your shoulders like I wanted to.”  
  
Ben closed the chair and got to his feet. “So I could’ve been ditched by my _boyfriend_ for a year as opposed to my best friend it was just really complicated with?”  
  
Reed made a face. “On the one hand? I _really_ like you calling me your boyfriend. On the other, wow I did not think about that part, dear lord.”  
  
Ben snorted and made his way toward the shower. “C’mon, Reed. Shower, then bed.”  
  
Reed trailed behind Ben on the way to the bathroom. “…do I get to stay?”  
  
“Hm?”  
  
“With you. In bed, I mean. Are you kicking me out?”  
  
Ben pause with his hand on the knob for the water. “…have I ever kicked you out of bed before now?”  
  
“No…”  
  
“Then why would I start now that we’re _actually_ dating?”  
  
“Good point.” Reed wrapped himself around Ben’s middle until they were face to face, grinning. “Shower sex?”  
  
“I’ve created a monster,” Ben groaned, but kissed back as best he could when Reed cradled his face between his hands.  
  
He had to say this for being a giant rock creature--it was much harder to slip in the shower when he fucked his boyfriend against the wall.  
  
—  
  
Johnny was grinning at Ben, bright and a little wicked, when Ben sat down at _his_ table in the cafeteria.  
  
“… _what_?”  
  
“So I guess you and Reed worked things out? I mean, aside from the fact that no one saw him leave your room last night after Sue caught him in the hall on his way _back_ to your room.”  
  
“Johnny--”  
  
“And Reed was singing along to love songs in his lab this morning. I mean, boy wasn’t even singing the raunchy stuff. I’m talking cutesy Taylor Swift stuff.”  
  
Ben frowned. “I don’t think Reed actually knows who that is.”  
  
Johnny rolled his eyes dramatically, putting his whole body into it. “I know you’re made of rocks, but don’t be _dense_ , man. He’s happy. He’s in love. Confirm my hypothesis here.”  
  
Ben picked up his sandwich. “Yes, Reed and I worked things out, but it’s also still new so--”  
  
“What’s still new?” Sue asked, sitting down next to Ben in a weirdly pointed manner.  
  
“Ben and Reed are dating,” Johnny said, and Ben groaned. “What? You are! It’s cute!”  
  
“I was gonna say not to _tell anyone_ , but now that you’ve announced it to the cafeteria--”  
  
“I didn’t _announce_ it, Balboa, I told Sue. She doesn’t count.”  
  
Sue arched an eyebrow at her brother. “Because?”  
  
“You’re team,” Johnny said with a shrug. “Like Reed said, you know? The four of us are a team. So we know these things about each other. And it saves Sue and I the trouble of vetting the guy.”  
  
“Vetting?” Ben didn’t want to think about what it would be like if Sue and Johnny had decided that they didn’t like whoever Ben decided to date.  
  
Grapefruit spoons and nostrils.  
  
“No one is good enough for you, man.” Johnny reached over and put a hand on Ben’s arm. “We just want you to be _happy_ , cookie,” he said, in a falsetto with an accent that reminded Ben so strongly of his mother he choked. “Whoa, you okay big guy?”  
  
“Yeah-- yeah, m’fine. Just--you sounded like my _ma_.”  
  
Johnny jerked his hand back like Ben had burned him, and Sue flashed invisible for a moment. “Sorry.”  
  
“Nah, nah. S’a good thing.”  
  
“I meant sorry your ma sounds like my girl voice,” Johnny said airily, and Sue threw a crouton from her salad at him.  
  
Ben laughed.  
  
Honestly, it was the best he felt in a long time.


End file.
